May Texas Concert Listings

If yours is one of the Texas school districts firmly pushing the panic button with both hands and cancelling school at any point this month, there are a couple of thematic, state-wide road trips you could embark on. The first wafts the peculiar scent of 90’s nostalgia: Nine Inch Nails, Jane’s Addiciton, Prince Paul, Letters to Cleo, Fastball, the Meat Puppets, Cowboy Mouth, Dave Mathew’s Band, Live, No Doubt, Gavin Rossdale, Crystal Method, Indigo Girls and Snoop Dogg all play under the Lone Star this month. For a more Texas-specific alternative, you could put together a nice little road trip of Alt-Country solidity this month, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Elvis Perkins in Dearland, Old Crow Medicine Band, Junior Brown, Bart Crow Band and Reckless Kelly are just some of the acts playing.
[George Strait]
Of course, all of these pale in comparison to George Strait playing in Hidalgo on the ninth – easily the region’s most anticipated show of the past seven years. (I’m still working on my elongated George Strait with the rough thesis being “George Strait is R. Kelly”. It’ll be up soon, I hope.)
Austin
01 Death Cab For Cutie, Ra Ra Riot, Matt Costa at the Austin Music Hall
01 Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit, Red Cortez at Antones
04 Clifton Anderson at Waterloo Records
06 Lady Gaga, The Veronicas at the Austin Music Hall
07 Flight of the Conchords, Eugene Mirman at Bass Concert Hall
08 The Paper Chase, Valina, Haunting Oboe Music at the Mohawk
08&09 Texas Rockabilly Revival with Wanda Jackson,Slim Jim Phantom (The Stray Cats), Levi Dexter, Wayne Hancock, Psycho Devilles, Two Tons of Steel, Reverend Horton Heat, Lemmy Kilmister and the Head Cat, The Chop Tops, Hillbilly Casino, Lowdown Shaky Chill, Pickled Punks at the Nutty Brown Cafe
09 When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, Exeter, Black Cock, Joy Bus at Red 7
09 Oklahomos, DC4, Texas Death Star at Room 710
09 Three 6 Mafia, Gorilla Zoe, Big Red Rooster, Dremnt the End, Joeska, KJ Hines, Loonac at the Austin Music Hall
11 Elvis Perkins in Dearland at the Parish
11 Other Lives at Waterloo Records
12 Nine Inch Nails, Jane's Addiction, Street Sweeper at the Erwin Center
13 Her Space Holiday, City Light, Butcher Bear, Charlie at the Mohawk
13 Vampirates, Head Panic at the Parlor
16 TV on the Radio at Stubb's
16 Prince Paul at Lamberts
18 The Dears, Great Northern, Eulogies at the Parish
19 Isis w/ Earth Crisis, Walls of Jericho, Reign Supreme, Unholy, Blood Stands Still
at Emo's
22 Letters to Cleo, Cruiserweight at the Parish
23 Chaos In Tejas presents Times New Viking, Nodzzz, The Strange Boys, XYX, Ratas Del Vaticano at Emo's
23 Margot and the Nuclear So and So's, Telekinesis at the Mohawk
23 Fastball at the Parish
25 Meat Puppets at Waterloo Records
26 Manchester Orchestra at Waterloo Records
27 Bellville Outfit at Waterloo Records
27 The Meatmen, Chapstik, Adrenaline Pigs, The Blind Pets at Emo's
28 The Field, The Juan Maclean at the Mohawk
28 Cowboy Mouth at Antones
29 Junior Brown, Lucky Tomlin, Lucky Tubb at Antones
Dallas
02 Dave Matthew’s Band at Superpages.com Center
02 Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit at Granada Theater
04 George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic at the House of Blues
05 Snoop Dogg at the House of Blues
05 Vince Gill at Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center
13 Live at the House of Blues
25 Gavin Rossdale at the House of Blues
30 No Doubt w/ Paramore and the Sounds at Superpages.com Center
Denton
16 The Dears, Great Northern, Eulogies at Hailey’s
22 Margot and the Nuclear So and So's, Telekinesis at Hailey’s
El Paso
01 Kenny Rogers at Inn Of The Mountain Gods Resort
17 Styx at Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort and Casino
23 B.B. King at The Plaza Theatre Performing Arts Center
Fort Worth
01 Bart Crow Band at Billy Bob’s
02 Rodney Atkins at Billy Bob’s
Frisco
02 Kenny Chesney at Pizza Hut Park
Grand Prairie
05 Flight of the Conchords at Nokia Theater
07 Jennifer Hudson w/ Robin Thicke at Nokia Theater
Gruene
02 Bellville Outfit at Gruene Hall
08 Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers at Gruene Hall
22 Reckless Kelly at Gruene Hall
Houston
01 Spinal Tap: Unwigged and Unplugged at Jesse H. Jones Hall for Performing Arts
01 the O’Jays at Htown Arena Theatre
02 The Smithereens, The Crisis, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts at the Showgrounds at Sam Houston Race Park
02 Fleetwood Mac at the Toyota Center
05 Yo-Yo Ma at Jesse H. Jones Hall for Performing Arts
06 Snoop Dogg at the House of Blues
06 Flight of the Conchords at Jesse H. Jones Hall for Performing Arts
07 the Rippingtons at the House of Blues
07 Old Crow Medicine Show at Warehouse Live
08 Jennifer Hudson w/ Robin Thicke at Reliant Arena
09 Eli Young Band at Tumbleweed Texas
13 Elvis Perkins in Dearland at Walter’s on Washington
14 Bonnie Raitt at the Verizon Wireless Theater
16 Fischerspooner at the House of Blues
16 James Taylor at the Verizon Wireless Theater
16 Two Tons of Steel at Goode's Armadillo Palace
18 Crystal Method at the House of Blues
21 Isis and Tombs at the Meridian
21 Letters to Cleo at the House of Blues
22 Indigo Girls at the Verizon Wireless Theater
22 Queensryche at the House of Blues
22 India.Arie at Htown Arena Theatre
23 Bobby Brown at Htown Arena Theatre
24 Wayman Tisdale at Htown Arena Theatre
28 the Virgins at Rudyards
29 B.B. King at Htown Arena Theatre
29 Two Tons of Steel at Continental Club
30 The Juan Maclean, The Field at Numbers
30 Mr. Lif at Warehouse Live
Rio Grande Valley
05 Cinco de Mayo Fiesta at Cine El Rey (McAllen)
09 George Strait at Dodge Arena (Hidalgo)
Stafford
15 Boz Scaggs at the Stafford Center

Bible reading for May 12, 2009

Deuteronomy 32:1-47 (New International Version) Deuteronomy 32 1 Listen, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. 2 Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants. 3 I will proclaim the name of the LORD. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! 4 He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. 5 They have acted corruptly toward him; to their shame they are no longer his children, but a warped and crooked generation. [a] 6 Is this the way you repay the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is he not your Father, your Creator, [b] who made you and formed you? 7 Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you. 8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. [c] 9 For the LORD's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance. 10 In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, 11 like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions. 12 The LORD alone led him; no foreign god was with him. 13 He made him ride on the heights of the land and fed him with the fruit of the fields. He nourished him with honey from the rock, and with oil from the flinty crag, 14 with curds and milk from herd and flock and with fattened lambs and goats, with choice rams of Bashan and the finest kernels of wheat. You drank the foaming blood of the grape. 15 Jeshurun [d] grew fat and kicked; filled with food, he became heavy and sleek. He abandoned the God who made him and rejected the Rock his Savior. 16 They made him jealous with their foreign gods and angered him with their detestable idols. 17 They sacrificed to demons, which are not God gods they had not known, gods that recently appeared, gods your fathers did not fear. 18 You deserted the Rock, who fathered you; you forgot the God who gave you birth. 19 The LORD saw this and rejected them because he was angered by his sons and daughters. 20 "I will hide my face from them," he said, "and see what their end will be; for they are a perverse generation, children who are unfaithful. 21 They made me jealous by what is no god and angered me with their worthless idols. I will make them envious by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding. 22 For a fire has been kindled by my wrath, one that burns to the realm of death [e] below. It will devour the earth and its harvests and set afire the foundations of the mountains. 23 "I will heap calamities upon them and spend my arrows against them. 24 I will send wasting famine against them, consuming pestilence and deadly plague; I will send against them the fangs of wild beasts, the venom of vipers that glide in the dust. 25 In the street the sword will make them childless; in their homes terror will reign. Young men and young women will perish, infants and gray-haired men. 26 I said I would scatter them and blot out their memory from mankind, 27 but I dreaded the taunt of the enemy, lest the adversary misunderstand and say, 'Our hand has triumphed; the LORD has not done all this.' " 28 They are a nation without sense, there is no discernment in them. 29 If only they were wise and would understand this and discern what their end will be! 30 How could one man chase a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up? 31 For their rock is not like our Rock, as even our enemies concede. 32 Their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are filled with poison, and their clusters with bitterness. 33 Their wine is the venom of serpents, the deadly poison of cobras. 34 "Have I not kept this in reserve and sealed it in my vaults? 35 It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them." 36 The LORD will judge his people and have compassion on his servants when he sees their strength is gone and no one is left, slave or free. 37 He will say: "Now where are their gods, the rock they took refuge in, 38 the gods who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise up to help you! Let them give you shelter! 39 "See now that I myself am He! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand. 40 I lift my hand to heaven and declare: As surely as I live forever, 41 when I sharpen my flashing sword and my hand grasps it in judgment, I will take vengeance on my adversaries and repay those who hate me. 42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood, while my sword devours flesh: the blood of the slain and the captives, the heads of the enemy leaders." 43 Rejoice, O nations, with his people, [f] , [g] for he will avenge the blood of his servants; he will take vengeance on his enemies and make atonement for his land and people. 44 Moses came with Joshua [h] son of Nun and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people. 45 When Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, 46 he said to them, "Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. 47 They are not just idle words for youthey are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess."Footnotes:Deuteronomy 32:5 Or Corrupt are they and not his children, / a generation warped and twisted to their shame Deuteronomy 32:6 Or Father, who bought you Deuteronomy 32:8 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls (see also Septuagint) sons of God Deuteronomy 32:15 Jeshurun means the upright one , that is, Israel. Deuteronomy 32:22 Hebrew to Sheol Deuteronomy 32:43 Or Make his people rejoice, O nations Deuteronomy 32:43 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls (see also Septuagint) people, / and let all the angels worship him Deuteronomy 32:44 Hebrew Hoshea , a variant of Joshua Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright

Fathoms Below

It has happened again. Google Jedi mind tricks and you just might find my mother's face over there. From the way she's graciously accepted Charming Calvin into the fold and included him in family gatherings, you'd expect that she has some slight inkling about our unconventional relationship. Eventhough I've never breathed a word to confirm or deny. That hasn't stopped my mother from practically adopting Calvin. To cap it off, my mother even suggested I bring him for a wedding dinner as my plus-one. She knows!At least that's what regular folks would think. But while I'm still reeling over the bizarre suggestion to have two fellas attend a church wedding together, my mother suddenly turns the tables on me again by pestering me to get married. To a girl.Obviously she hates complacency.Okay. What's her score now?You see, a friend of mine just started a fledgling relationship and already her boyfriend has started dropping loaded hints that he wants her to move in. After only a month. Talk about fast and furious from zero to hundred. Commitment-phobe he certainly isn't but the shocking speed of the engagement is giving my friend just the wee bit of jitters. So when I briefly mentioned the brisk pace of her relationship's progress, my mother suddenly chips in with a surprising comment. Mother : Good for him. At least this fella takes a chance. You should follow his example. Make a move instead of waiting forever.Paul : Huh?Mother: Don't think so hard. Don't overanalyze. Make a move.Paul : And who should I make a move on?Mother : With a girl. Any girl. You know so many.Paul : And you seriously think I'm the kinda guy who waits forever without trying?Mother : Yes. Waiting isn't going to net you that girl.Paul : And you think I don't know that?Good God. She's preaching to the freaking choir! Doesn't she know her own son? I'm not particularly well known around these parts for my Buddha-like patience. I see something I want and I go after it with a mindless vengeance. Seriously, I'm the sort crazed, drooling stalkers are made of. I see a guy I like, I zero in and I hound him till he accepts me - or at least till he gets a restraining order. I'm devilishly persistent that way. Sitting around twiddling my thumbs waiting for providence to arrive isn't my style.I'm more the kind who'll travel far and wide to find providence and drag it kicking and screaming ( in chains! ) home.And my mother thinks I'm dragging my heels?

Animal Collective Brings Their “Summertime Clothes” to Letterman

Readers of the blog might start getting sick of my obsession with Animal Collective, but I would immediately argue with those readers and ask them to open their ears a bit more. In fact, I think this band has actually dwarfed Phish for me in terms of pure musical excitement. This band just constantly keeps me guessing and Im really pleased to see how well the band came off on Late Show with David Letterman last night. The three pillars of Merriweather Post Pavilion groove behind flashing lights while robed dancers circle and noodle dance like they were attending a Phish concert at Merriweather Post Pavilion  chew on that piece of meta musical goodness and watch the clip below really loud. Animal Collective - Summertime Clothes on Letterman 5/7/09 (TheAudioPerv.com) [YouTube]

Time Waster - Fast140 aka "How Badly and Fastly can you type?"

So you think you can type fast, eh? Not soooooooo fast. Here comes Fast140. What is it you ask? Well, it recycles tweets from Twitter and turns them into a speed typing game. No longer will you be testing your speed to mundane and correctly spelled sentences like "The dog ran quickly.", now you get stuck with winners like the one pictured above. Uhhh, I'm sorry what? I have to type........."Hero" by Enrique Iglesias? YES, I did. Ugh! Now that's a time waster my friends. And I loved every damn second of it.This gem of an app comes via Philip Kaplan, aka "Pud", the fellow who brought us ummm....Effed Company. I can say Effed, right? I got the inside scoop by pinging him on Twitter naturally:

8:00 pm Celtic Thunder

Celtic Thunder is a new group and concert special featuring five Celtic male vocalists: Paul Byrom (age 28, Dublin, Ireland), George Donaldson (age 39, Glasgow, Scotland), Keith Harkin (age 20, Derry, Northern Ireland), Ryan Kelly (age 28, Moy in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland) and Damian McGinty (age 14, Derry, Northern Ireland). Taped August 2007 at the Helix in Dublin, the group's debut performance is a celebration of Celtic heritage and men-their loves, attitudes, individuality, power and strength, throughout life's journey. From rousing ensemble numbers to solos showcasing each members' vocal style and personality, Celtic Thunder performs powerful ballads, popular hits, and heartwarming songs of love and loss from across the Celtic music spectrum-Irish, Scottish, traditional and contemporary. Celtic Thunder creator/producer Sharon Browne teamed up with legendary Irish composer Phil Coulter (Elvis Presley's "My Boy," Sandie Shaw's "Puppet on a String," the now-classic Irish ballad "The Town I Loved So Well"), to audition men all over Ireland and Scotland for the group, and craft a representative set list. The eclectic mix of music includes traditional songs ("Mountains of Mourne," "Come by the Hills," "Love Thee Dearest"), pop classics (Paul Anka's "Puppy Love," the Eagles' "Desperado," The Moody Blues' "Nights in White Satin") and Coulter originals (Irish Rugby Football Union anthem "Ireland's Call," "The Old Man," "Steal Away"), accompanied by The Celtic Concert Orchestra, a full band, bagpipes and monks. Choreography, dramatic lighting, visual effects, and a set resembling ancient stone steps and paths enhance the musical production. For more information phone: 1 800 443-1999.

Big island carve

Signs of the Times

Cigarettes Butt here!!! Thanks[Sign on can on sidewalk in a place that is not in the Twin Cities, as far as I can recall.] NO Solicitation! We DON'T give outchange for meters! [and] SORRY we will be CLOSED on08 * 08 * 08For a Family Wedding Love, Jasmine Oriental[Two signs on restaurant door in Stadium Village, Minneapolis.]Books$ ->[Sign on Maryland Avenue in East Side, Saint Paul.]FOUNDCAT!White WithTan SpotsDe-Clawed& Friendly![Sign at church on Park Point drive in Duluth, MN.]$700REWARDOur dog has gottenLoose!! She is a [illegible]Brown pitbull 3 months old.If you see her please call...[Cardboard sign on tree on Front Avenue in North End, Saint Paul.]FISHINGOPENERCLOSEDTILLMAY 17[Sign on door of Ran-Ham Lanes bowling alley in Saint Paul.]Keep OffThe Grass[Classic sign on lawn of KSTP studio in Saint Paul.]

Exophthalmos

Orbital inflammation, edema, tumor or trauma, cavernous sinus thrombosis or increased attention (such as unilateral congenital glaucoma and high myopia) may lead to one or two exophthalmos.

A Tough Lesson in AJAX

Last week I learned a tough lesson in AJAX, JSF and client-side component state. This one had me fooled for the better part of a day, in part due to the complexity of debugging multiple related AJAX requests, intermittent symptoms, and the opaque nature of JSF component state. Here's what happened:The page that was problematic has multiple tabs (rich:tab), some combo boxes (h:selectOneMenu), and at least one suggest control (rich:suggestionbox). The tabs are server-side AJAX tabs. The suggest control also uses AJAX.To reproduce the problem, the user takes the following steps:Use a suggest control to select a value on the first tab of amulti-tab form Switch tabs to a different part of the form Press a button on the form in the 2nd tabAt this point the application complains with validation errors on the first tab. The experience is very confusing to the user: after switching tabs successfully with no errors, pressing a button on the second tab causes validation errors on the first tab. This should never happen in the application: validation is designed to occur only for components that are submitted. When the button is pressed on the second tab, validation should not occur for components in the first tab. So what's going on?Here's what I expected to happen:The AJAX suggest control sends requests and renders itselfThe tab sends requests and renders its contentsThe button submits the form to make a requestHere's what really happened, depending on timing of the requests:The AJAX suggest control sends a requestThe tab sends a requestThe browser receives the response from the tab click and re-renders the tab and its form controlsThe browser receives the response from the suggest controlAfter receiving every response the DOM is updated to contain the new JSF component state (remember: we're using client-side component state, so all JSF component state is stored in a hidden form parameter in the browser).Due to out-of-order responses, the component state was being set to that of the first tab by the suggest control -- thus the application thinks that the current tab is the first, not the second as we would expect. Pressing the button on the second tab results in the application interpreting the submitted form as submitting values for components on the first tab. This is problematic for HTML controls, since HTTP parameters are not submitted for controls where no value is selected.So how do we fix this problem? Have all AJAX controls use the same request queue. This is achieved by setting the attribute eventsQueue="myApplicationEventQueue" on all of the richfaces AJAX controls. By doing so we end up with the following sequence:Lesson learned: AJAX requests update JSF component state on the client, and thus must all complete in sequence. Otherwise component state on the client can get out of sync with what we expect it to be.

Spanish companies, Big in America?

Spanish firms hope to benefit from Americas stimulus planAMERICAN companies are not the only ones hoping for a boost from Barack Obamas economic stimulus plan. Spanish firms are also positioning themselves to benefit from what they call el Plan Obama. Other foreign companies are jostling for some of the $317 billion of intended spending, but Spain is the only country to have built a campaign around it.The countrys golden couple, crown prince Don Felipe and his wife Letizia, launched a Made in/Made by Spain campaign in New York last month to put Spanish firms on the map. The scale of the opportunity is extraordinary, says Spains industry minister, Miguel Sebastian. He reckons Spanish firms are eligible for at least $71 billion of contracts. That is as much as Spain is spending on its own

regrouping

Every so often, one just really needs to regroup. I can always tell when I need to re-group knitting-wise when I stop knitting. When I don't even feel the desire to knit, which is really unheard of, and cause for alarm for me. Knitting is my sanity, knitting is how I relax, and create, and quiet the voices in my head. So for me to not knit is not a good thing. Writing is the same. Running is the same. For the past two, maybe even three months, I haven't been doing much knitting, some writing (mostly unproductive) and absolutely no running. Today is the day that all of that changes. Today I cleaned out my knitting bag and did what I had to do. Ruthlessly. I put some projects into a long-term state of waiting. They are going into the basket, and will be redeemed later this summer in time to finish them up for next Fall. I still love the Elizabeth Bennet Cable Cardigan. Love it. Want it. Don't want to keep knitting it right now, a sleeve and a half short of done. Just don't.I won't get it finished in time to wear it much this winter anyway, so why press onward when really? the not wanting to knit on it is keeping me from knitting at all? Off needles and onto scrap yarn it goes, and into the basket with you, Liz...see you in September.The Back to School U-Neck vest? Ditto. I'll see you in time for next school year, but not right now.Monkey socks? One down and the cuff of one started...they can stay, I had to order a new circular needle to finish the second sock, the one I have (Addi Turbo Lace) although lovely, has a cord that is much too long for this project and keeps kinking up, leading me to swear and curse it as I straighten it out over the tea kettle yet again. So, they are on a break until the new Harmony wood circular comes from KnitPicks. It should be here today or tomorrow.The wool for Campbell's winter hat and mittens? I mean, it's almost the end of winter. Who am I kidding? And we finally found his warm, toasty, and waterproof L L Bean mitts that fit from last year. Maybe his red and blue coat will still fit next year? And if not, well, red and blue are pretty universal.I think what it is, is that I am feeling Spring coming...and the winter knitting that was supposed to be done by now, has become an anchor, a dread, a chore, something that I am supposed to get finished, had planned on finishing long before this point, and now is just a drag.And so, my knitting bag is down to just one (it had been two of them) beside my chair and the basket in the closet is a bit fuller, but now I can cast on for something else, not really new as I've knit one before, something I want to knit for Spring, and that feels better.Writing? Well, it's a process and I have to do some work on that. It isn't as easy as reorganizing a bag, how I wish it were.Running? I probably need to unfold the treadmill to fix that problem. I think I'll do that next.

TVBS Taipei County Election Polls

After you've read this scary US Naval Institute report on a new Chinese weapon, a ballistic missile modified to kill US carriers, you can have a glance at this Klingon News Network (KNN) report on the latest TVBS poll on the Taipei County executive race. Former DPP Vice Presidential Candidate Su (also a former premier and former Taipei County Chief), the likely DPP challenger, is pitted in the poll against several different KMT politicians. An anonymous commenter yesterday said internal KMT polls are also showing strong DPP gains in Taipei County, though it is impossible to verify that -- the current leader, Chou Hsi-wei has low approval ratings. The China Post noted the other day Chou was saying the spate of polls showing him behind other candidates was all a conspiracy by other KMTers out to get him. Remember, this is a TVBS poll, but it does seem to reflect what other polls have found -- that Su wins against all KMT candidates. He did a bang-up job as county chief, and was quite popular.TVBS Public Opinion Poll (March 31, 2009)(Source PDF) 1. The upcoming Taipei County Executive election will be held at the end of the year. Are you going to vote? Definitely 54% Maybe 25% Not sure 9% No 12% 2. For this year’s Taipei County Executive election, if KMT’s Chou His-wei were running against DPP’s Su Tseng-chang, whom would you vote for if you were to vote tomorrow? December 29, 2008 March 26, 2009 Chou His-wei 29% 27% Su Tseng-chang 53% 52% Don’t know / Undecided 18% 21% 3. For this year’s Taipei County Executive election, if KMT’s Chu Li-luan were running against DPP’s Su Tseng-chang, whom would you vote for if you were to vote tomorrow? March 26, 2009 Chu Li-luan 39% Su Tseng-chang 41% Don’t know / Undecided 20% 4. For this year’s Taipei County Executive election, if KMT’s Wu Don-Yih were running against DPP’s Su Tseng-chang, whom would you vote for if you were to vote tomorrow? March 26, 2009 Wu Don-Yih 34% Su Tseng-chang 48% Don’t know / Undecided 18% 5. For this year’s Taipei County Executive election, if Pan-Blue’s James Soong were running against DPP’s Su Tseng-chang, whom would you vote for if you were to vote tomorrow? March 26, 2009 James Soong 31% Su Tseng-chang 50% Don’t know / Undecided 19% Note: The public opinion poll was conducted from 6:30 pm to 10:00 pm on March 26 with 864 people over 20 years of age successfully surveyed and 117 people declining to be surveyed. The margin of error associated with this sample is plus or minus 3.3 % with a 95 % confidence interval.

The 40 Year Old Virgin

The 40 Year Old VirginThe 40 Year Old Virgin, showing Monday April 27th on ITV1 London at 10:35pmAlthough the plot has a slightly thin premise, surprisingly this 2005 lightweight romcom works quite well. Following his show-stealing performances in Bruce Almighty and Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy, Steve Carell moved centre stage with a leading role. He plays Andy Stitzer, a 40-year-old electronics store worker, whose colleagues discover that he has never had a girlfriend and is still a virgin. They set about helping him to meet that special someone - by any means necessary.Despite a few hit-and-miss gags and a feeling that the film is a shade too long, there are plenty of laughs throughout. Particular highlights include a less than conventional speed-dating scene and a legendary waxing scene that will make you wince.What separates this from the stream of recent gross-out movies is the underlying sense of heart and sweetness as Stitzer chooses to wait for the right woman rather than lose his virginity with the less than appealing options that his friends present him with. Underpinned by Carell's charming and likeable performance and a sense of originality lacking in other movies of this genre, this is one of the better comedies of recent years and well worth checking out.Did you know? Carell's chest hair was actually ripped out for the excruciating waxing scene. Just before shooting the infamous sequence, Carell told director Judd Apatow: "It has to be real. It won't be as funny if it's mocked up or if it's a special effect. You have to see that this is really happening." The scene had to be done in one shot. View the full reviewGet a reminder when The 40 Year Old Virgin starts.

Japan's human body play

That Was Fun

All of the boxes are now unpacked.No, okay, I lie. There is a box in the garage marked "Laundry." I am not sure what all is in it except some cleaning stuff and a throw blanket that lived atop the washer in our apartment. (Why did it live there? I don't know.) There is a box in a guest bedroom marked "board games." There are dedicated shelves for these games upstairs, but no one has been willing to make the trek up the stairs with the box, so it remains. There are also several pieces of art that have not been unwrapped yet. Eventually we will uncover them and decide where to hang them. But that's it. Everything else has been unearthed and organized and placed. I feel triumphant.I have also gotten over my cold. It was not allergies, thankfully (although the cold certainly could have been exacerbated by them). (And it had nothing to do with buying a new house; the home was built over six years ago, and the carpet was installed new for showing/selling the house. Many homeowners do this regardless of the house's age.) I am relieved not to be allergic to my own house.Ish's parents came to visit on Saturday and it was nice to have that as an unpacking deadline. For two weeks I did nothing but unpack boxes, organize all sorts of things, run to the store, nap, sneeze/hack/cough, and chase after cats. Mostly unpack. It's been a blur. I'm glad it's done.But now?I'm sitting in my home, having absolutely no idea what comes next.I mean, aside from the baby.I/we had our new-to-us doctor's appointment today. She's a little big for her age (she's ~30 centimeters at ~27 wks), so we'll schedule an official sonogram to check on that, but mostly things seem fine. She's finally started to move and kick a lot more in the last couple days.No, we do not have a name yet. Not even close.I know I am supposed to enjoy the peace and quiet now, since there won't be much more of that post-kid. But it's all totally weird and surreal and strange. For example, I've never in my life had more time to blog, and I've never been more stuck for what to say.It's not like I don't have stories. Oh, I have stories. Stories from San Francisco, stories from growing up. I have found tons of photos and cringe-worthy notes from high school that are, for many reasons, still excruciatingly embarrassing...possibly too embarrassing to share. I feel like I just need a jumping-off point.Suggestions?